Scenes from Shibuya

Disclaimer: The characters of Ghost Hunt do not belong to me and are the property of their respective creators.

A/N: This is a series of oneshots (more or less) and timeline wise, majority of the fics should be taking place after The Romancing of Taniyama Mai. Basically (if you've not read it), all you really need to know is that Mai and Naru already are a couple and Lin and Madoka are engaged.

Those of you who have been waiting for my other updates, please be patient. Multi-chap stuff always is harder to write, but I will get to it as soon as my muse comes back from its holiday. Till then, enjoy!

1. Serendipity

Early Sunday morning was not a good time to be in the heart of Shibuya. A blue fog misted over the streets, the still bare trees stretching cold, grey fingers to the cloud-laden sky. A faint pink haze glazed the buildings as a small flock of pigeons took off, startled by a lone motorcycle firing up.

Mai yawned as she mooched round a block to the traffic crossing. The previous case had taken the entire week, camped out in the middle of a deserted and damp cemetery (it'd rained four out of the six days they had been there) in distant Hakone and with no time for school or chores. Her house was in a mess, her fridge was empty; somehow when Bou-san had dropped her off the previous night, he and Yasuhara had managed to polish off her diminishing ration of tea and biscuits between the two of them. She'd been so tired she hadn't been able to stop them and now, foodless on a Sunday morning, she'd dragged herself out early to stock up for the coming week. At least, it wasn't crowded – yet. This was a city after all. "Curse you, Naru," she mumbled half-heartedly, sneezing as she breathed in the cool dawn air. He hadn't even said goodbye to her before Lin had driven off from the cemetery grounds.

The supermarket was already bustling and Mai groaned as she fought through the crowd. There seemed to be some kind of sale among the asparagus, where a small group, made up mostly of middle-aged ladies had convened, elbows and hips jutting in each other's way. To Mai, a sale was always good and feeling slightly more cheered up, she too pushed her way through eagerly. She emerged minutes later with a bundle of the vegetables and a triumphant smirk. They had been going at half price. Now, on in search of breakfast... An hour later, laden down with several large plastic bags full of supplies for the week and humming quietly to herself, Mai left the store. As expected, it was much more crowded outside. The roads were already roaring with traffic, pedestrians swarming the pavement and… Mai gawped as the raven-haired young man walked past her, having just exited the same building with a large plastic bag.

"Naru!" she shouted.

Naru turned at the sound of someone calling his name. Through a gap between a particularly fat man and a gaggle of children walking their dog, he spotted a familiar brown head. "…Mai?" he said, somewhat surprised. She was staring at him as though he'd grown another head.

"What?"

Mai could barely believe her eyes. It was Naru alright, right down to the humourless, bland expression he was wearing. "You…" All she could do was sputter, "You aren't you in black!" He looked down at his light blue shirt and indigo knit scarf. "Yes, I am aware of that," he asked in his driest voice. "But..." Mai bit her lip tentatively. "What…what about Gene?"

"I figured it was time to move on," he said quietly.

"H-hai," Mai replied uncertainly. Gene always was a touchy subject and Naru's unreadable expression wasn't helping her. They fell in step together, Naru unexpectedly gallant when he relieved her of the heavier of her two bags. "Oh, no, it's alright…" she said hastily. The contents of their bags jostled against each other as she wrestled to get hers back. "What're you doing?" he asked a trifle irritably. "You'll break the eggs."

"Eggs…" Mai echoed faintly. Surely it wasn't a dream? Naru doing the shopping? She looked at the asparagus sticking out of his bag in disbelief. "Those were cheap," Naru said defensively. She had a good look at him then. He definitely looked good in blue; his clothes brought out the colour in his eyes… which were currently scowling at her.

"Don't tell me you believe what Madoka said about me being a robot. I can cook too you know or did you think I was going to ruin my skin on takeout?"

She returned the glare. "Of course not! That'll make me the girlfriend of a robot!"

"Besides," she huffed, shifting her bags to her left hand in order to poke him in the chest. "Robots aren't half as vain as you."

"I'll take that as a compliment," he said smugly as he pointed her towards a familiar café. "Breakfast, my treat."

She sniffed. "If that's your way of making up to me for last week, it isn't going to work."

"I don't have to. You're paid to do your work."

"Jerk."

Naru smirked. "You wouldn't have me any other way."

She scowled at him. He was striding ahead so confident that she would follow that she was tempted to turn the other way when... her stomach rumbled. Starwberry jam on hot toast, aromatic tea, runny eggs sunny-side up... What was it that her favourite teacher had once said? You should always pick your battles. With a sigh, she ran after him, her boots clattering loudly on the hard cement. One day. One day, she'll definitely have the upperhand and when she did, Naru would get his comeuppance. "Wait up, you narcissistic robot!" she yelled.

That was a new thing she was calling him. He would have to remember to tease her back about it later. As they passed the glass front of a shop display, he stopped short. His reflection had smiled at him. A warm hand curled around his elbow. "Come on," Mai said, smiling up at him. "I'll take you up on that treat. We need to celebrate your new wardrobe for one."

His gaze softened. "Perhaps," he said, frowning slightly as he allowed himself to be hauled the rest of the way. As they moved away, he peered anxiously once more at the glass. This time, his reflection winked, holding two thumbs up. His twin grinned, mouthing two silent syllables as he did. Good luck.

Further A/N: Hope it wasn't OOC, especially considering a non black-clad Naru, but since he's umm... dating Mai, I like to see it as him starting to move on now that his brother's body has been found... I'll switch back if it's weird.